Case file · Cryptid
Hodgson's 'wild man' report, Nepal
British Resident in Nepal Brian Houghton Hodgson reported in 1832 that his porters fled from a tall, hairy, tailless creature in the northern hills, the first Western mention of what became the yeti.
1832 CE · 28.20, 85.40 · status: account
The account
Writing in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Hodgson called it a 'rakshas' and guessed it was an orangutan that had strayed far from its range.
The sceptical view
Hodgson never saw it himself; bears, langurs and hermits are the usual suspects for such second-hand reports.